Sleepless
The Sleepless are a slave class in Cadia. They are kept in Fort Insomnius prison and used for various tasks by the Atmos Sphere, such as messenger service, manual labour, etc. The public opinion of the Sleepless is that they are mindless and too tired for thought, and people are more repulsed than sympathetic towards them. First introduced in Gloaming, they play a far more prominent role in Nightfall, when Asquith Aout lives as a Sleepless for the duration of the book. Appearance and Physical Attributes The Sleepless wear floor-length white robes and white conical hats with pompoms on the ends. They have no collars. Their eyes are bruised and the cybernetic enhancements in their eyes give them a glittery, shiny appearance. Sleepless' hair is shaved on their first day in Fort Insomnius prison, and traditionally when their hair grows out it is kept in a braid, though this style is not followed by all Sleepless. The Sleepless are quick healers as a result of their enhancements and generally lethargic. Though they do not sleep, they still require an amount of rest. History Back when the Diurnal/Nocturne divisions were a new aspect of Cadia and not strictly enforced, a the Sleepless were formed as a religious order who sought to find enlightenment through sleep deprivation, seeking to "forever be on the border between dreams and reality" (We Have the Technology, chapter 2 of Nightfall). ''Back then the Sleepless were respected and considered wise, even frequently served as diplomats and advisors to the Circle of Cadia. Fort Insomnius was known as Temple Insomnius then. However, a fringe sect known as The Cold Side of the Pillow (which would later develop into the Candelites) believed that Sleeplessness should be taken to extremes and pioneered the cybernetic enhancements/implants that allowed a person to stay awake indefinitely and caused great suffering which they believed was holy. Public opinion was not positive towards the Cold Side of the Pillow. When TVImin came into power as Supreme Atmos, instead of trying to live in the outside world again, she wanted Cadia to stay under the Hard Limit indefinitely as she believed she could better control the people this way. The Sleepless were very much opposed to this and to stifle dissent, she turned Temple Insomnius into the prison Fort Insomnius and locked up all the Sleepless inside with a team of Exos. Taking advantage of public distaste for the Cold Side of the Pillow, TVImin forced all the Sleepless to receive the Cybernetic Enhancements and made use of them as slaves for the Sphere. '''Cybernetic Enhancements' The process of receiving the Sleepless implants is a several hour excruciatingly painful surgery. No anaesthetic is used as as soon as a person becomes Sleepless, the drug would cease to work and possibly even be dangerous to the person. Enhancements include: * a brain wave regulator, to keep the brain in an awake state * hypothalamus fence, to combat the drastic metabolism slowing that comes with sleep deprivation * a reverse processing memory purification filter in the hippocampus, an early side effect of which is backwards processed speech, depicted by Ptomlyn as such: "uoᴉsuǝɥǝɹdɯoɔ ǝnƃolɐᴉp pǝddᴉlɟ" * reality rectifiers in the eyes to filter out hallucinations * cardiorespiratory speedifiers in the heart and lungs to increase blood filtration and work with the hypothalamus fence * a tracking device * a chip in the arm that when contacted with a programmed branding stylus, indicates that a message has been received * a message director chip in the brain, that when a Sleepless on messenger duty touches a pre- programmed hand panel, they are filled with a deep overwhelming need to go to their assigned location and deliver their message * the white conical hat that injects hundreds of tiny needles into the wearer's hat and when the pompom is squeezed delivers an immune boost Enhancements not given to all Sleepless: * additional pompoms on their hats e.g. with anticonvulsives or as needed * strength and size amplifiers, for Sleepless assigned to manual labour Notable Sleepless * Asquith Aout * Rêve Sueño * Delta Chavez * Twenty Key * F.E.G. * Nochnushka, a scientist who aided in the Sleepwalk * Zolpidem, a historian who aided in the Sleepwalk Category:Universe